Knitting-machine needle.



No. 674,893. Patantod May 28, l90l.

S. WOODWARD. KNITTING MACHINE NEEDLE.

(Application filed June 18, 1898.)

(No Model.)

Invent)? L%'e; 7ww woomy/ @M M%sq Tm: nomus yzrzlu no PHOYO-LITHLL.wunmom UNrrn TATES PATENT OFFICE:

STEPHEN WOODIVARD, OF FRANKLIN, NEWV HAMPSHIRE, ASSIGNOR TO MAYOKNITTING MACHINE (it NEEDLE COMPANY, OF SAME PLACE.

KNITTING-MACHINE NEEDLE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 674,893, dated May 28,1901.

Application filed. June 13, 1898.

To (LZZ whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, STEPHEN WooDwARD, of Franklin, county of Merrimack,State of New Hampshire, have invented an Improvement in Knitting-MachineNeedles, of which the following description, in connection with theaccompanying drawings,is a specification, like letters on the drawingsrepresenting like parts.

My invention relates to knitting-machine needles of the class whereinthe heel of the needle is provided with an enlarging or thickenin gmember applied thereto for the purpose of strengthening the needlethereat, and also to furnish a suitable shoulder when required to bearagainst the wall of a skeleton cylinder to hold the needle in verticalposition in its groove in the needle-cylinder. Prior to my invention ithas been common to apply to the heel of a needle an enlarging orreinforcing member in the form of an endless ring or collar encirclingor surrounding the entire heel and retained thereon merely bycompression thereupon or else secured by solder or equivalent means.Both of these methods of securing the collar have been objected to asinadequate to prevent displacement of the collar on thejieel. Attemptshave also been made to attach a reinforcing-plate by clench- 0 ing atongue portion or portions thereof into or through an opening in thepart of the needle to which the plate is'applied, but without success,for the reason that such a mode of securing the plate has been foundinadequate and too costly.

The object of my present invention is to provide a needle having anenlarging and reinforcing memberapplied to its heel in a manner toobviate the objections above referred to. 40 This object I attain byfirst providing the heeL of the needle with a suitable openingit may bepartly in one and partly in the other of said heel members-and theninserting in this opening a wire or strip and bending the two endsthereof, preferably in opposite directions, to embrace the limbs of theheel, and thereby produce the requisite enlargement and reinforcement ofthe heel.

In the drawings, Figure 1, in side elevation,

gerial. No. 683,262. (No model.)

illustrates a knitting-machine needle with its heel provided with athickening or reinforcing member in accordance with my invention; Fig.2, an enlarged sectional detail; Fig. 3, a view similar to Fig. l withthe reinforcing member omitted; and Fig. i, a view similarto Fig. 3,showing the opening in the heel entirely in one member thereof.

Referring to the drawings, the knittingmachine needle a is and may be ofany suitable or desired construction, it having a usual heel 1), formedby bending a loop in the shank of the needle. The heel b is providedwith an opening 1), shown in Figs. 1 and 3 as partly in one and partlyin the other of the two limbs of the heel and in Fig. 4 as entirely inone of the limbs. The thickening or reinforcing member 0 in the form ofa wire or strip-it may be straight, like a stud-is inserted in thisopening I) and its ends bent, preferably in opposite directions, toembrace the limbs of the heel I). As shown in Figs. 1 and 2, thereinforcing member a is of such length that when bent as described itcompletely encompasses the heel, somewhat like a collar, and assumes aconfiguration closely resembling a figure 8; or it may be made shorter,so that the ends of wire will not meet the middle thereof where thelatter emerges from the heel, but will stop short thereof by a distancewhich may vary as desired, it then assuming more the configuration of aletter S.

In many cases it is sufficient if the ends of the wire or band when bentembrace but two of the sides of the respective limbs of the heel. Ineither case, however, the passing of the wire or strip through the heel,whether between the limbs thereof or through one of the limbs thereof,effectually prevents displacement of the same on the heel, and thebending of the ends of the wire or strip, so as to embrace the limbs ofthe heel more or less, according to the length of the wire or band,holds the latter in the opening.

It is evident my novel construction possesses great inherent strengthyet requires no solder or other equivalent material to retain it in itsposition.

' The wire or strip 0, while conveniently of round wire, may have anydesired shape in cross-section, either rectangular, oval, or fiat, likea band.

My invention is not limited to the particular embodiment shown, as thesame may be varied without departing from the spirit and scope of theinvention as claimed.

Having described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secure byLetters Patent, 1s

A knitting-machine needle of the class described having a collar appliedto its heel, between the limbs of the heel and embracing such limbs.

2. A knitting-machine needle of the class

